PCT day 63 – Dorothy lake
It was the most beautiful camp ever. So peaceful and I slept so well. About 9 hours sleep! Well worth the half a mile off trail to get there. When the 5:30am alarm went off I did not want to get up! I kept poking my head out to see if Growler was moving. She wasn't so I kept snoozing the alarm and got up reluctantly at 6am.
I was on my way by 7 for the start of our day of 5400ft of elevation gain and 3600ft of elevation loss over 24 miles. We set ourselves a big target today!
The first big climb was straight away and at 8am it was even hotter than yesterday. I made it up first and I was going so slowly I thought Growler would have overtaken me. I dried my stuff and ate my lunch at 9am!
We met Stummy at the top and she hiked with us for the rest of the day.
The day then went something like this – descent, ascent 700ft in 1 mile, descent, ascent 1300ft in 2 miles, descent, ascent 1500ft in 9 miles.
All of the wild flowers are starting to bloom and the areas we were walking through looked so pretty.
It was so so hot. Too hot. Energy zapping hot. And oh the bugs were something else today. It's like they've all just hatched all at once. Plus the several creek crossings slowed things down. I dipped my buff in the cold water and for about a minute it felt so so good.
We got to Wilmer lake at the bottom of our last descent and had some food as we were feasted on by the mozzies. 4:30pm and 9 more miles to go. 1500ft of ascent. We can do this!
There were so many bogs. Growler went off like a rocket and I kept pace with Stummy. I had to put my head net on because of the bugs - they were unbearable. We were walking at a really good pace, the boggy areas, and there were many, slowed us down a bit. My shoes already stinky from river water are now stinky with dirty bog water. With about 2.5 miles to go we both hit a huge brick wall and it was a struggle to move forwards. We kept each other going. When we knew we must be close we picked up the pace again and let any a big cheer when we saw the lake – we finally made it to Dorothy! I have never been so pleased to see a lake.
I saw what I thought was Growlers tent, but it turned out to be a rock! We carried on around the lake taking in the beautiful views...
We saw Growler and 3 others camped and went to join them. I ate tuna, cheese sticks wrapped in salami and cookies for dinner in my tent. Just about got my tent pitched and everything done before the sun set.
It was one of the toughest days on the PCT. I'm over the bogs and the creek crossings and the bugs. It's mentally tough at the moment as well as physically tough. Today took it out of me. Everything hurts. Especially my knees and shoulders.
But tomorrow we hit 1000 miles...